Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-31
A GOLD nSEs'S STORIES.
"Reminiscences Of the Days sf ~ sal
Afteeward

ZULU NJ wax SIOhieSs
"Reminiscences Of tho D.ys sf ~ s.A
Afterward.
Especial Correspo.dencel
BosroN, Dec. 26-Tndian Bar, % the
ruolumne. in 1857 was supposed to be worried
ut. Only bank face. fronting the river,
"f red dirt fifteen or twenty feet in height
aud great bowlder piles As flung by the miners
-nained Out Of hundreds but Ave or six
"f the most reckless and .'shiftless" miners
-mained working for grub and whisky
'ud satisfied with q couple Of dollars per day
u rocking" One day one ct these CON
uded to try . slim streak Of gravel which
owed itself under several feet Of hard
nan" in the bank deserted by its former
Norkerx Hard pan" is Q red dirt almost as
nlrd as sun burned brick or the adobe Of the
Mexican, which D frequently found lying
rom ten to one hundred feet above the gold
earring gravel Of the California dead river
rhannels and dead river" channel means .
"-posit or streak Of round, smoothly washed
nebble and bowlder showing ths course
Of tho river at some remote geological
period; and, strangely enough. nearly
all these ''dead river channels in
California run At right angles and across the
present live ones, which, a. you may mai
urally infer. means live running water and
wet gravel underneath. "Hard pan" was SO
called by the miners because it was % hard
to wash-it was almost the attempt 10 soak
brickbats to . mud consistency Our ''reli'
tried a pan from the slim gravel streak II
yielded three cents. He "coyoted" In Lr, =.
further. The gravel streak grew thicker D.
yielded ten cents more. Tho ledge pitched
inward. Over him was the steep side
Of ono Of the river hills 500 fss.
high. It was another old river chan
mel and gave its possessor after tws
years working over 900 600 It's permanent
possessor was not the ''relic" who found N.
II was . more cunning and far sighted man
from Massachusetts,, who bought the elsm
for a few hundred dollars, for the idiot val
ued the present pottage of . barrel sf ~ isky
far more than the financial possibilities,
were under the Indian Bar hill Gold min
ing means digging, lifting rocks and psek-
ing wet and heavy lumber in the sbaps Of
>luices. like any other ''navvysr wosk Sold
washing is simply the shovelinS sf diSs into
an inclined trough full Of running wster
The water docs nearly all the work n puns
oh otu11O Auu bAUoS W0Il0 tn0 oe0vloY
gold falls to the bottom Of the sluics Or
trough and brings up against sbs eDeats
nailed at the bottom, mixed With quantity
"f black sand. Look At the street CUTTERS after
\ heavy rain and you sse thers illustrated
he whole gold washing principle The taeks,
pins, buttons. rusty nails and othar bih sf
metal caught in the cysvices Of ~ paving
stones represent gold as the soil b washed
- - -
w first weeks mining experience IN 1859.
There's no reasoning as to the whereabouts
"f the darned stuff by analogy. The hkslisst
about where You find It"
So found IT ns he represented \
The richest deposit might - two fese un-
derground. 1t might be 100. It may. - in
Springfield Flat. lay where the water sfssr
reaching = certain depth comes into she
sliaf; NJ fast that the expense Of pumping il
out forbids ali risk Of c.pisL Yet she gold |
is there, hidden IN rrevi,r> amid . tumble Of |
immeI>. bow ldcrs biz small houses, piled ,
me atop the other To the depth before men
ionei. and these san- ho~lders. though !,
e'olorcd red by long ,,ntscs with the
rcd earth in wiIeh for ages they |
have been buried. are all marble, As YOU may |
find on chipping of bit. when you will see |
The snowy whitencss Of the stone revealed be- |
r'-ath That is on the "Bowlder Isngs,"a !
strange streak Of rock running many miles |
through southern California, from . quarter |
TO falf a mile in width. and all these rocks, |
sr.a at and small. piled as they are on each |,
otuer beneath the soil. are water washed and |
- orn into varied and fantastic forms, g il |
~ the action upon them Of surf or water
fall. A singular formation il the RowIder |
range, for it has no secure bottom, and there |
have been cases Of shaft bottoms falling
ut at the depth Of sixty OF seventy
eet and showing running water beneath. On
his range, at q camp in Calaveras county, :.
the miners for years ran their mud and stone
from the sluce's mouth into a crack in the |
,arth. 1t never filled up. The gurgling Of
running water could be heard in it. During |
ne summer, while waiting for wster" lone |
'hird of our time in the mines was peaed in
his way,. the boys" concluded to explore
his mysterious underground region. They |
built small boat for the purpose, lowered il
lown, and Johnny Ward. who had volun-
teered to navigate this underground river,
,fter it He did so q little way. as far q b.
Jared, but the river disappeared amid low,
verhanSing rocks and darkness. and Johnny l
as hauled up again and tho boat left
o rot. have seen the heaviest gold
aiken from . sort OF top dressing" Of
i::ht soil several feet from The ledse.
n the banks Of the Tuolumne river
have. after washing painful Of such dirt,
zen thousand srecks Of fne '.cour gold"
yins on its bottom A microscope would
how thousands more, and the whole pros
,-ct wouldn't r.igh half cent in value
This flour gold" seems as light as the
Itomic feathers Of the butterdy's wing It is
natural pulverize.i gilt Leaf. ground to pov.
Ter rs rolled over snd over among the river
,owlders for countless centuries-those bowl
lers which. during the fall freshets Of tbs
and Tuolurine, We could hear a
light rattling along the river bed above
he roar Of tho boiling current
That was always after our dams,
lumes, sluiccs and water wheels. repre-
entins a whole summers work and possibly
hat Of the previous winter, had bcen swept
way, as swept away they were two seaeons
'ut of three, just as in September 10 bad
urned tie stream and had commenced taking Il
nut gold. This was the fortune Of two-thirds
Il the river claims that came undsrm OBJ
ervation during my three years Of river
mining
Flour gold" to the amount Of millions Of
lollars has run to waste from the mouths a
thousands Of rockers and sluices. It ID borne
long in the thick muddy water Of the min.
ng bitches. It will in amalgam squee.e,
shen tightly pressed, through the pores Of
buckskin bag. There is q vast deposit Of Il
n the mud at the bottom Of the bay Of San
rs run into that bay from he
;alifornia creeks and rivers No process has
-et been devised to save it
The rich quartz gold specimens you may
ave seen are not reliable. The best paying
luartz veins show little or no ''free gold" !" a.
,old in rock is termed that Is visible And